I may be in the minority, but one of the more labor-intensive parts of my DM prep is prepping monsters/NPCs with spellcasting. Looking up the spells in the heat of the game, whether using D&D Beyond or hardcovers really breaks the flow of the game, so I've taken to writing abbreviated 1-to-3-line descriptions of each spell a spellcasting monster/NPC knows. This dramatically speeds up my ability to run the monster/NPC and keep the game flowing.
Do any other DMs do something similar? I really wish there was a feature somewhere online that let me "drag-and-drop" abbreviated spell writeups (1-to-3-liners) rather than having to write them by hand each time. Would anyone be interested in a possible D&D Beyond feature like this?
Here's an example of what I do...
1st level O O O O
Chaos Bolt: 120-ft, one target, +5 to hit, 2d8+1d6 variable dmg (1-cold, 2-force, 3-lightning, 4-poison, 5-psychic, 6-thunder), if d8’s same number, chaos bolt leaps to new target within 30’.
Fog Cloud: Conc., 1 hour, 120’, 20-ft-radius heavily obscured per spell level slot.
Shield: REACTION, +5 AC u.s.o.y.n.t. and immune magic missile.
2nd level O O O
Alter Self: Conc., 1 hour
Hold Person: Conc., 1 minute, DC 13 WIS or paralyzed.
3rd level O O O
Blink: for 1 minute, roll d20 at end of your turns, on 11+ vanish into Ethereal, at start of your turns reappear
Enemies Abound: Conc., 1 minute, 120’, DC 13 INT or regard all as enemies, choose targets randomly, must opp. attack.
4th level O
Confusion: Conc., 1 minute, 90’, 10-ft-radius sphere, DC 13 WIS or confused (repeat save end of its turn), roll d10 for behavior: 1=no action, move random, 2-6=no move/action, 7/8=random attack, 9/10=move/act normally.
For me personally: I use my Chromebook at the table, so I just have a monster statblock open in a tab, and hover over the spell I intend to cast, since DDB makes it super easy to do so. Then I can see all of the information for say, Fireball without navigating anywhere else. All of my NPCs are made in monster statblocks, so I always have those as a reference.
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I may be in the minority, but one of the more labor-intensive parts of my DM prep is prepping monsters/NPCs with spellcasting. Looking up the spells in the heat of the game, whether using D&D Beyond or hardcovers really breaks the flow of the game, so I've taken to writing abbreviated 1-to-3-line descriptions of each spell a spellcasting monster/NPC knows. This dramatically speeds up my ability to run the monster/NPC and keep the game flowing.
Do any other DMs do something similar? I really wish there was a feature somewhere online that let me "drag-and-drop" abbreviated spell writeups (1-to-3-liners) rather than having to write them by hand each time. Would anyone be interested in a possible D&D Beyond feature like this?
Here's an example of what I do...
For me personally: I use my Chromebook at the table, so I just have a monster statblock open in a tab, and hover over the spell I intend to cast, since DDB makes it super easy to do so. Then I can see all of the information for say, Fireball without navigating anywhere else. All of my NPCs are made in monster statblocks, so I always have those as a reference.